This Second Edition of The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language presents a mass of new information and introduces the subject of language to a fresh generation of students and general readers. Probably the most successful general study of language ever published, The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language covers all the major themes of language study, including popular ideas about language, language and identity, the structure of language, speaking and listening, writing, reading, and signing, language acquisition, the neurological basis of language, and languages of the world. Exposing this work to a new generation of readers, the Second Edition extends the range of coverage to include advances in areas such as machine translation, speech interaction with machines, and language teaching. There is new material on acoustics, physiological concepts of language, and World English, and a complete update of the language distribution maps, language-speaking statistics, table of the world's languages, and further reading. All geopolitical material has been revised to take account of boundary changes. The book has been redesigned and is presented for the first time in full color, with new pictures and maps added.

I. POPULAR IDEAS ABOUT LANGUAGE

1. The prescriptive tradition 2. The equality of languages 3. The magic of language 4. The functions of language 5. Language and thought

38. Investigating children's language 39. The first year 40. Phonological development 41. Grammatical development 42. Semantic development 43. Pragmatic development 44. Language development in school

VIII. LANGUAGE, BRAIN, AND HANDICAP

45. Language and the brain 46. Language handicap

IX. THE LANGUAGES OF THE WORLD

47. How many languages? 48. How many speakers? 49. The origins of language 50. Families of languages 51. The Indo-European family 52. Other families 53. Language isolates 54. Language change 55. Pidgins and creoles

I. Glossary; II. Special symbols and abbreviations used in the encyclopedia; III. Table of the world's languages; IV. Further reading; V. References; VI. Index of languages, families, dialects, and scripts; VII. Index of authors and personalities; VIII. Index of topics.

This Second Edition of The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language presents a mass of new information and introduces the subject of language to a fresh generation of students and general readers. Probably the most successful general study of language ever published, The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language covers all the major themes of language study, including popular ideas about language, language and identity, the structure of language, speaking and listening, writing, reading, and signing, language acquisition, the neurological basis of language, and languages of the world. Exposing this work to a new generation of readers, the Second Edition extends the range of coverage to include advances in areas such as machine translation, speech interaction with machines, and language teaching. There is new material on acoustics, physiological concepts of language, and World English, and a complete update of the language distribution maps, language-speaking statistics, table of the world's languages, and further reading. All geopolitical material has been revised to take account of boundary changes. The book has been redesigned and is presented for the first time in full color, with new pictures and maps added.

Table of Contents

I. POPULAR IDEAS ABOUT LANGUAGE

1. The prescriptive tradition 2. The equality of languages 3. The magic of language 4. The functions of language 5. Language and thought

38. Investigating children's language 39. The first year 40. Phonological development 41. Grammatical development 42. Semantic development 43. Pragmatic development 44. Language development in school

VIII. LANGUAGE, BRAIN, AND HANDICAP

45. Language and the brain 46. Language handicap

IX. THE LANGUAGES OF THE WORLD

47. How many languages? 48. How many speakers? 49. The origins of language 50. Families of languages 51. The Indo-European family 52. Other families 53. Language isolates 54. Language change 55. Pidgins and creoles

I. Glossary; II. Special symbols and abbreviations used in the encyclopedia; III. Table of the world's languages; IV. Further reading; V. References; VI. Index of languages, families, dialects, and scripts; VII. Index of authors and personalities; VIII. Index of topics.